Cboe Files (Again) for (Yet Another) Bitcoin ETF

Barely a week after the Chicago Board of Exchange (Cboe) withdrew its application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list the world’s first bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF), the exchange and its partners, VanEck and SolidX, are back at it.

Gabor Gurbacs, the director of digital asset strategy at VanEck Asset Management, broke the news on Twitter that the Cboe, on behalf of the joint initiative, had refiled for a rule change with the SEC to list the ETF. The filing has all the bureaucratic trappings of those that came before, but it will reset the clock on the SEC’s decision-making time frame for the institutional-grade product.

Since its introduction to the industry in 2013, the bitcoin ETF has been praised as the key to unlocking Wall Street’s formal access to bitcoin’s market, and, by proxy, the key to flushing fresh capital into the market to send it to new heights. A role call of rejections, delays or reviews has punctuated each effort, though, and a handful of outstanding applications (which are pending review by the commission) were, until now, the remaining contenders in Bitcoin’s multi-year wrestling match with the SEC.

This refiling has Cboe, VanEck and SolidX reentering the ring after the joint venture retracted a long-standing filing last week amidst the U.S. government’s multi-month shutdown. Jan van Eck, VanEck’s CEO, feared the obstruction might jeopardized the filings chance at approval, as regular talks with SEC personnel ceased when the shutdown took effect. Rather than take the risk that the ETF might get tossed aside, the venture opted to withdraw its proposal.

With the government now reopened, the trio is trying again (for VanEck and SolidX, this will be the fourth filing between the participants). Once the SEC lists the proposed rule change on the Federal Registry, the SEC will have 240 days to make a decision (for those of use keeping track, no later than October).

“We are actively working with regulators and major market participants to build appropriate market structure frameworks for a Bitcoin ETF and digital assets in general. I am grateful for the overwhelming support around the world,” Gabor Gurbacs told Bitcoin Magazine in a statement.